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Bandit

Although Bandit lived a short life, his time here at Ziggy's left a big impression on everyone who interacted with him. We received a call about a "runt" baby pygmy goat who was facing euthanasia in Spring 2022, shortly after the passing of our angel Solly. Bandit had some congenital defects: a very large head and eyes, plus very short and contracted limbs. We were never completely sure what caused his physical abnormalities, but he was showing improvement and able to ambulate quite well with the help of tiny splints to stretch out his legs and a wheelchair. He had volunteers that spent many hours working on physical therapy with him, and ended the sessions with lots of snuggles. With all his special needs, Bandit was a constant in our lives: for 3 months he was with us almost 24/7.
Though Bandit was making progress with his strength and mobility, he had several unexplained episodes of bloat and pain, which waxed and waned for a few weeks. We tried several medication cocktails trying to resolve these issues. One day, Bandit was in so much pain from abdominal distention, our local vet recommended we take him to NC State to get to the bottom of his issues. Their preliminary tests showed that something was definitely wrong, but while trying to figure out what, Bandit took a turn for the worse. They were unable to get his bloating under control and unable to revive him when he  became unresponsive. Bandit was the toughest little guy. He was born with so many odds stacked against him, and we were sure this would be another obstacle he could overcome stronger than ever. Hearing the words "we lost him" was such a shock. Bandit's necropsy found that he was suffering from basically what you see in a horse when they colic - his cecum was twisted, and this is something NC state had never seen in a goat. There are so many what-ifs that still go through our mind, tests we could have tried sooner, wondering how long he'd been struggling with this. Bandit was so happy and made everyone around him so happy. Even though he wasn't even 12 pounds soaking wet, he had the largest personality. His short time on earth was so full of happy times.
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